The Zoom workshops we started in 2020, when we were already sick of the pandemic and not yet sick of Zoom, continue in their fourth year and frankly, I do not have the Zoom fatigue the mainstream media’s talking about. I think part of the reason for that is because we join Zoom poetry workshops voluntarily and the work stuff is, well, why they pay us to be there. I’ve cut back on my own workshop offerings by one full (five week) session and added Andrew Schelling’s masterful facilitation of The Cantos, which is such a literary pleasure, but I am usually energized by these sessions. I am told the material is “rich.” It does tend to be trans-genre to quote Roxi Power, one participant.
Starting in February, I’ll offer the introduction to spontaneous composition course on Thursdays from 3-5pm PST, known as Poetics as Cosmology. I am moving the time up one hour to make dinner time easier here at Casa del Colibrî. That we will be taking a deep dive into Cascadian Zen Volume I is going to be such a joy for me. So often I do not celebrate the successes in my life, but move on to the next thing. Now, while I have several projects in various states of completion, I will take some valuable workshop time to cover this book from beginning to end. This workshop is not limited to writers! Those civilians who want a deeper experience with the material are most welcome to join. I’d especially welcome Zen practitioners. Details below:
A five week online (Zoom) workshop for continuing participants in the online workshops facilitated by Cascadia Poetics Lab and Poetry Postcard Fest Co-Founder Paul E Nelson. Participate in reading and discussion of foundational essays, interviews, listening and other assignments, as well as spontaneous poetry composition exercises, in the second of two five week courses. This season we will be exploring passages from Cascadian Zen Vol 1 – Basket One: The Buddha Way. How can one’s poetics be a cosmology and maintain some experience of the Poetry Postcard Fest, to allow one’s life as a poet to rise in one’s personal hierarchy of duties/activities? $250 for each five week session per person, scholarships are available. Thursday nights, 3-5pm (February 1, 8, 15, 22, & 29, 2024) by invitation only. Preference given to participants who wish to commit to both five-week sessions in the 2024 season.
Thursday Nights, 3-5 PM Pacific Time
February 1 – February 29, 2024
(February 1, 8, 15, 22, & 29, 2024)
Link to purchase Cascadian Zen Volume 1
Zoom link: (to be announced)